ideas, projects and beautiful things

How are you; are you having a lovely weekend? Mine began with a delivery I’ve been feverishly anticipating; a copy of the family photo yearbook I’d assembled and ordered, capturing all of the best bits of 2013. Creating it was a labour of love which filled the long evenings between Christmas and New Year, but the result is 132 pages (count ‘em!) documenting the big and small things which together made up what was a wonderful year. It was the first time I’ve done this even slightly methodically; here are a few thoughts and learnings I picked up along the way…

1. Don’t worry too much about chronology

It doesn’t matter if you get the exact sequence of events right (was our day at the seaside before or after Auntie Jean’s birthday?) – no-one will remember anyway. Instead, I grouped pictures according to season, using photos for each section that I’d taken during the year and which I felt captured the essence of the months ahead; snow for the first quarter, then nests and eggs for springtime, and so on… it creates a feeling of the passing of time without you losing sleep over chronology…

Christmas was such a fun and activity-packed time it warrants a section of its very own…

2. Capture the little things as well as the milestones

Whilst holidays, birthdays and events of course feature, some of the loveliest moments for me were the little things; growing sunflowers, racing scooters, feeding ducks; the minutiae of the everyday at this time in our lives – and the ones most likely to make me sentimental in the years ahead!

3. Think about your year in the broadest sense; memories don’t have to have people in them

Regular followers will know that we are gradually renovating our house (very gradually; it is the archetypal money pit…), so at various stages of our book I added pics of completed projects like our bathroom below;

4. Flex your layouts to make the most of the pictures

On some pages of the book, I’ve used a myriad of pictures which reflect the pace and busyness of our lives at that point, like the run-up to Christmas below. At other times, I’ve used a double-page spread for a single photo, like this one of Harry on a beach in Newport, when it felt like the horizon was infinite and we had the place entirely to ourselves.

5. Think beyond photos and use the yearbook as a family archive too.

Possibly my favourite section is at the end, when I’ve added a miscellany of things which were very meaningful to us, whether or not they came with photos.

…like a letter my father wrote to me on my birthday, saying how ‘at this landmark time, I am incredibly proud of you’. A letter so special that it warranted capturing in my book of the best bits of the year…

…and on a different note, cuttings from the 50yr old newspaper we found in a cupboard when excavating an old shed; comically politically-incorrect and charming at the same time, it gives a lovely insight into another era.

This post back in October generated some lovely reminisces of children’s sayings, and I couldn’t miss recording some of Harry’s in our yearbook – immortalising them to remind us just how fleeting the magical pre-school years are;

The archive section also contains a gallery of Harry’s artwork from across the year, which allows me to be a little more ruthless about what I throw away; we now have a permanent record without needing to store boxes and boxes of artistic efforts in the loft.

I was slightly astonished when I watched my book upload to the server to find that it contained 756 photos. I struggle during the year to keep up with sending interesting family pics to relatives without either overwhelming them or having them miss out. Now, I can sit them down with a glass of wine and our family yearbook and get them to stick a post-it note on any they want copies of; rather like viewing your wedding photos after the event and choosing only the ones you love!

6. Order a copy or two..

Photobooks, particularly thick ones, can add up financially, but I’ve ordered an extra copy to begin to build a set for Harry that I can give him when he leaves home. For my generation of pre-digital childhood snaps, the only way of looking at pictures is by visiting your parents and going through their albums; I want Harry to be able to have a copy of each of our yearbooks and not have to wait to inherit them. It also gives us a back-up copy in the event that we lose or damage this one (and with the country currently shoulder-deep in floodwater, it’s a very relevant thought…)

Finally, in the category of I-wish-I’d-thought-of-this-earlier; I wish I’d archived photos as I’d gone along, choosing the best each month and putting them in a folder (I use iPhoto, for Mac). Sorting and sifting an entire year’s worth of photos was painfully slow, so my New Year’s resolution is to exert a little more discipline and order for 2014; I now have a folder for each month and am gradually dropping photos into it for January as the year unfolds.

Do you make photo yearbooks or do anything similar? I’d love to hear (and learn ideas from those who have been doing it longer).

And now with Monday looming I will allow myself one more wander through the pages before firmly setting it aside and focusing on the week ahead; I hope that you have a good one.

Kate

p.s. I used BobBooks software to make our yearbook, which I chose because I’m familiar with it – but shop around for good deals and the formats you like.

Kate your book is beautiful – I think I’m going to have a go thank you for the inspiration x

jessicaJan 19, 2014 @ 22:01

Absolutely beautiful. I love the additional touches you’ve done. You have such a great eye and I think its a wonderful way to capture your family. We’ve recently started doing similar ones. Shutterfly offered a fun option for the ABC’s and we did coordinating pics for each letter. Its one of our son’s favorites and helps to learn at the same time. Win win

Honestly, every single thing you put your hand to is just out of this world stylish. I have started doing photobooks I can’t even count how many times but I get SO overwhelmed and give up. Your style and eye for detail is just exquisite. Another STUNNING project Kate. Thank you for sharing

I need to do a better job at taking pictures each season that show the seasons. I saw something about this earlier this week (just a mention of seasonal photo taking) and I realized that I had not approached my picture taking quite that way, even though I think about everything else in that way.

Our winters are short–in fact, it is rather spring-like here lately and I have turned off the heat. (It is still cold at night but the house is warm enough).

Your suggestion of seasonal photos has me thinking more purposefully about what I want to capture each year, and I have felt that I had no clear focus in that direction. I will make it a point to take more meaningful photos this year!

I do a monthly archive of photos and videos and store them on a few clouds as well as use another external hard drive for back up. That way when the budget allows I can work on another album. Your pages look beautiful! I know the time it takes but so worth it when you have the album in your hands. Have you tried a wall calendar–we create one every year.

The storage and back-up is a great idea; I lost a whole bunch of data and photos to a virus last year and was bereft; your comment is a great reminder to make some duplicates. The wall calendar is a lovely idea – definitely one for next year!

BeatriceJan 20, 2014 @ 04:39

Soooooo beautiful! A lovely book to have and share! Mst of all a nice book with beautiful memories in beautiful pictures.

Hello Kate! I love your blog, which I have been following for over a year now… you make such beautiful projects and have a very good eye for nice things… I love your year book! it is so beautiful! In the past I also used to make photo books, but more focused on our getaways and vacations… The birth of my daughters meant a long interruption to all this: it is so hard to find the time to sit down and browse through milliards of pictures… but one of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back to making photo books, and your post today was the perfect inspiration!

One of the things that always makes me doubt when I make a photo book is what paper to choose… nowadays most websites have at least four or five types of paper to choose from… does it make so much of a difference? which one did you use for your book?

I would like to suggest another website which a professional photographer recommended to me, it is called “Blurb”. One thing that I really like from them, is that they give you the option to make and E-book, or a pdf of your album, so that you have a digital version of your photo book that you can easily share with friends and family… the result is like one of those very nice electronic magazines…

Hi Montse, how lovely to hear from you! I know what you mean about babies delaying good intentions like photo books – the times when we take the most beautiful photos are always the ones when we have so little time to actually sort and use them! Re paper – I’ve made photo books using the high quality ‘photographic’ paper option, and found – for me – that it didn’t make much difference, other than making the book a bit thick and unwieldy; I always choose the ‘basic’ option and am very happy with it. I do find that the quality of the photo reproduction and colour intensity varies with different providers, but that seems to be more about the company than the paper itself.
Thanks for the tip about Blurb; I’m off to investigate and explore it tonight! Love the idea of an e-book that can be shared around for family and friends.

So gorgeous! I have done different things over the years. This year I discovered Project Life and am liking the fact that I can do that bit by bit although when I see this book I so love it’s look that I may do something more like it this year…

Hahaha, love Dawn’s comment above – reminds me of that episode of Friends when Phoebe realises that the image in the photo frame is not her dad but a photo frame picture model!

Love all your ideas for the Year book – they do take a time don’t they? My sister and I made one for my parents a couple of years ago to celebrate their Ruby wedding anniversary. We got pictures from every year of their marriage – it took an incredible time to put it together but the effort was so worth it for the final book and look on their faces when we gave it to them. It’s lovely to look back over.

Maybe I should start collecting photos now to make one for The Bert and I?! I think you are right that image selection as you go along would make it a lot easier!

Jones x

JoannaJan 21, 2014 @ 00:26

Yes, I do one every year and I totally agree that you should capture as many everyday moments as you can, in addition to the bigger celebrations (birthdays, Christmas, etc). I also love all of the details photos of your home decorations, a great memorial to all of the love and effort that went into creating your happy home environment. And yes, once you’ve done a book or two you realize what things you want to capture, and you can be proactive for the next year to make sure you have photos of those things…

Such a great idea! Your book is absolutely stunning!! Thanks so much for sharing!

GabrielleJan 25, 2014 @ 05:49

Your blog is simply amazing. I don’t know how you come up with such fantastic ideas and execute on them so beautifully. I wish you would offer a service whereby you would cull through my photographs from the year and design a book for me. I would happily pay for my very own (although just purchasing one of yours for my coffee table would be second best). Please open a shop next (online as I’m in California). I am woefully inadequate at creating such amazing memories for my 3 year old and 7 month old girls.

This is such an amazing idea and I am so glad you showed it! It’s my hubs 51st birthday next week – his 50th was blighted with the passing of our darling 15 and half year old Westie girl and we were just too distraught to celebrate. I wanted to do something special for him for this year but have been battling like mad to come up with something – this is just perfect! Your book is adorable. Thank you so much for showing and for all your inspiration. Happy New Year to you all!

Hello Anne, I’m so glad – I agree it sounds like the perfect thing to celebrate and commemorate his birthday; and now with the passage of a little time you can also fill it with photos of your lovely Westie and remember some of the best of times; it sounds like there have been many! A very happy birthday for next week to your husband and do let me know how you get on with the book

I’ve been following for a couple of years, falling in love with your newly renovated kitchen at first, then with your all family and your creativity.
Your sweet Harry is like an older version of my son: blond hair, blue eyes, bright smile… When I read your blog, it is as if I was projecting a year ahead!

I’ve in mind the idea to create a photo book a year starting when my son was born. He will be 3 in May and I haven’t started yet… Shame on me! I dread the process to do it and as I am (way too) meticulous, I am afraid to spend an insane time on it.
Bravo for not letting this idea in a corner of your head and have done it brilliantly, it is gorgeous!!!

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